Coatesville's Boykin eyes Hershey hardware

COATESVILLE—Since August, Coatesville’s Mike Boykin has been forcusedon one thing: playing defensive tackle for the Red Raiders footballteam.

Boykin was a key cog in the Raiders’ football machine, one that defiedthe odds and made a magical run to the state title game. While theexperience was one Boykin won’t soon forget, his focus will now shiftto the mats, where Boykin stands as one of the county’s top shots atbringing home a state medal.

“It was a great experience,” said Boykin of Coatesville’s march tothe finals. “The run leading up to states was some of the most funI’ve had in sports. It didn’t end the way we would haveliked, though. We just didn’t play the kind of game we needed toplay.”

One downside to the Coatesville football season extending intoDecember is that Boykin was forced to start his wrestling season agood three weeks after most of the rest of the PIAA wrestling world. That might not seem like too big a deal to the casual fan, but beinginshape for football just isn’t the same as being in shape forwrestling.There is only one way to get in shape to wrestle, andthat is going through the gruelling grind of practice.

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“Nobody but wrestlers know what it takes to be in the kind ofcondition you need to be in to wrestle,” said Boykin. “The first fewpractices back I thought I was going to die.I pretty much couldn’tbreathe. But I’m getting there. Another couple of weeks, and I’ll beright where I need to be.”

In a sport where the upper echelon guys seem like they emerged from the womb in a singlet and headgear, Boykin got acomparatively late start. It wasn’t until seventh grade that Boykintried his hand at wrestling, making his rapid rise as on of the topupper weights in the region, and the state, all the more remarkable.

“I love the fact that it’s an individual sport,” said Boykin. “Infootball, if you make a mistake, you can rely on one of your teammatesto pick you up and cover for you. But in wrestling, it’s just you outthere. If you make a mistake, it’s all on you. Only you can do whatit takes to overcome the mistakes, but you don’t have to share any ofthe success, either.”

As a sophomore last season, just his fourth season on the mat, Boykin reeled off one of the best seasons Coatesville has ever seen from awrestler. Boykin entered the state tournament with a record of 40-1,capturing sectional, district and regional titles along the way.

But the state tournament didn’t go quite the way Boykin planned.After winning his opening bout with a 9-6 decision over Bald EagleArea’s Nathan Sharkey, Boykin dropped his next two, leavinghimself a mere win shy of Hershey hardware.

“I have to work on going hard for all three periods, pushing to scorefor all six minutes,” said Boykin. “In the past, I’ve had a bad habitof getting an early lead and just coasting the rest of the way. Youcan’t do that against the better guys, or you are going to lose.”

So Boykin got to work, staying in the wrestling room and on the matsuntil just before football season kicked off in August. In fact, justa couple weeks prior to the start of football, Boykin was wrestlingfor the Puternic Wrestling Club at the AAU junior Olympics, wrestlingfreestyle (along with Greco Roman, one of the two Olympic styles,which are different than the American folkstyle wrestled in US highschools and colleges) for the first time in his brief but successfulcareer. All Boykin did was go a perfect 15-0 over the course of threedays, pinning down a gold medal in the process.

“Freestyle was a lot of fun, especially since I hadn’t done itbefore,” said Boykin. “There’s things I can do in freestyle that Ican’t do in folk, and vice versa. I’d definitely like to go back toJOs, and do a lot more freestyle.”

For the first time since Boykin has been in high school, there issomeone in charge of the Raiders’ wrestling teams besides coach MikeCammer, who retired at the end of last season.

“Coach Cammer was always there for me on a personal level,” saidBoykin. “He was a great coach, and he will be missed.”

Stepping in to fill Camnmer’s shoes are Bear Stephens, who has been anassistant at Coatesville for the past few seasons, and Paul Girafalco,a Downingtown alum who will act as co-head coach with Stephens.

“Coach Stephens has been there for me a lot of the past few years,too,” said Boykin. “And Coach Girafalco has been great so far too.I’m sure they will do a good job for us at Coatesville.”

The team, which has improved by leaps and bounds in the past few yearsfrom a decade ago, had to postpone several of its early-season meetswhile it waited for Boykin and other football players to get back inthe room.

“We’re young, but there’s a lot of talent on the team, even with thefreshmen,” said Boykin. “It’s going to take a little time for us allto get going, but I think the coaches will have us where we need tobe, and we’ll be fine by the end of the year and the post-season.”